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JESUS SAVED THE DAY
"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him, 'They have no more wine.'
"'Woman, why do you involve me?' Jesus replied. 'My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever He tells you.'
"Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. "Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'; so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.' They did so and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
"Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.'
"What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him." John 2:1-11 (NIV).
What a story -- full of interesting imagery if one reads it from a Hebrew perspective!
Just as John began his gospel by taking his readers right back to Genesis 1 and linking the human Jesus with His eternal existence and creative work before He appeared on earth, so now he takes us back to Genesis 3 -- the first wedding and its significance for revealing the glory of God.
Is there a subtle hint that the first marriage ran out of the heady wine of pure love and the powerful bond of unity because sin intruded and ruined God's intention for marriage. It was intended to reflect the ecstasy of the loving unity in the Godhead which is the essence of God's glory.
Why did John begin his story with "On the third day"? Was this just a chronological detail or was this a subtle reference to the outcome of His resurrection "on the third day"-- the promise of the "new wine" of the Holy Spirit who would be poured out on the church in the abundance which the 120 to180 gallons of miraculously-produced wine symbolized?
Was this chronologically the first of Jesus' miracles; the first of the recorded miracles according to John; or the first in importance because it summed up in a graphic story the purpose for His coming -- to provide in abundance the "new wine" of Holy Spirit, transforming life into a perpetual celebration?
If we try to stick rigidly to a literal time line, we can easily accuse John of inaccuracy. However, if we understand how John used his material to serve his greater purpose -- to present Jesus as the Son of God in order to spur his readers to putting their trust in Him -- the whole incident comes alive and begins to make sense.
John concluded this story with his interpretation of the episode so that his readers would be in no doubt about the meaning of the miracles he reported. He called it "the first of the signs." This tells us, first of all, that there would be more to follow. It also points us to the reason why Jesus responded to His mother's request. It was not just to bail the bridegroom out of an embarrassing situation.
Everything Jesus said and did was intended to put His Father's glory on display. Since He insisted that He and the Father were one, that meant that whatever He was, the Father was. Both His compassion and His power are reflected in His action, God stepping in to save the day and to bring in the hope of a better day for all who believe in Him.
His disciples did! Do you?
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